Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Position Reduced by Perkins Capital Management Inc.

Perkins Capital Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,750 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the quarter. Perkins Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,404 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Ciena by 2.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $635,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 5.4% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $380,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 424.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Evercore ISI lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. BNP Paribas lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

Ciena Stock Up 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $68.53 on Thursday. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $42.20 and a 52 week high of $69.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. The company has a market cap of $9.90 billion, a PE ratio of 72.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.41.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123 in the last three months. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company’s Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.